People's Liberation Army to clear mines along China-Vietnam border

BEIJING: China has approved a third demining mission along the country's border with Vietnam to remove landmines placed by it during the Sino-Vietnam war in 1979.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) began preparatory work in early August for the demining mission, which will be carried out along the southwestern border areas in Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The operation will finish by the end of 2017. The team includes experienced soldiers from the military area commands of Chengdu and Guangzhou.

Many of the soldiers have participated in demining operations as part of UN peacekeeping missions.

Local governments will give progress reports to the public, and guarantee local residents' safety, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The mines were reported to have placed during the China-Vietnam border war in 1979.

Two other mine clearing missions along the China-Vietnam border occurred from 1992 to 1994, and 1997 to 1999.